On behalf of the CBJ Hebrew School Committee, we would like to invite you to join us in an exciting new program we are offering this year. Congregation B’nai Jeshurun is initiating a post-Hebrew School program that will involve discussion and debate of contemporary Jewish issues. Among the topics to be discussed will be matters dealing with Israel and American Jews from the perspective of adolescent children. While you were in Hebrew School, your involvement was often influenced by your family. As you grow older, your continued commitment to your Jewish heritage becomes more of a personal choice. It is our hope that this program will allow you to develop your unique perspective on contemporary Jewish issues. Your families all did excellent jobs raising you and now it is time for you to start to search for answers for yourselves. I promise it will prove to be a worthwhile experience and a good reason for an early start on your journey!

The program will consist of one morning per month on Sundays, beginning on September 25. When you arrive you will attend services at 9:00 AM and then join the Hey class at 9:30 AM where you will be presenting opposite sides of a particular issue. The topic for the first debate is how do we define what it means to be Jewish? Is it a religion? Is it a nationality? Or is it something else or a combination? Other prospective topics during the year will include living as Jews in a predominantly non-Jewish country where holidays like Christmas take over the media and is predominant everywhere you turn. This year Christmas falls on the first day of Chanukah which will probably mean that our own holiday will feel very overwhelmed. Also, we will include discussions that affect Israel, American Jews’ attitudes and relationship to Israel. We will discuss what we feel is appropriate or not. We will discuss how to keep the faith in college and beyond by sharing information on college programs such as Hillel and Birthright trips. We will also discuss do-it-yourself Judaism – how you can practice observance on your own. Certainly, if you have ideas and suggestions for topics to be discussed we encourage you to share them with us.

The scheduled dates for this program (Subject to change) are: September 25, October 30, November 20, December 18, January 29, February 26, March 26, April 23 and May 7. Since it is a new program, there is no charge. Please let us know if you have friends who may wish to join this program.